A CottonCandy Love Story
by yaslanagirl
Summary: This is dedicated initially to Inuyashamegagirl, and subsequently: any lover of InuyashaXKagome fluff. I warn you now, there will be much bleeding of the fluffiness, and not much battling. I don't know if I can write a story sans-plot-twist, but I'll try
1. Masks Discovered?

I wrote this for and am dedicating this whole story to Inuyashamegagirl, one of my amazing reviewer fans! I felt bad about focusing entirely on my KagomexSesshoumaru pairing story, especially when she's such a big fan of KagxInu. So!! This is hereby dedicated to you, I really hope you enjoy it! ^_~*

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Out of sight, out of mind- wasn't that the way it was supposed to work?

Kagome snarled and pulled at her long black tresses, scrunching her aqua-blue eyes to try and remove the mental image from her view. Naturally, this didn't work, and only served to make her mental image of Inuyasha that much more discernible. Scowling, the young woman threw her head into her pillow and screamed her frustration.

She was always picking the unavailable males to fall for. The only problem with her 'crush' this time: Kagome wasn't entirely sure it was only a crush. It was too soon to tell if he felt the same way, and he was too gruff and confident most of the time to really tell what he was truly thinking.

Letting out a whimper, Kagome gave up on the attempt at shredding her innocent pillows, and settled for strangling them into silent submission. As though the pillows would sprout legs and walk away from her. With her current luck, Kagome wouldn't have been completely surprised. Really shocked and sure of having a hallucination, but not really surprised. She was sure the gods were having a grand time mocking her heart.

She soon loosened her grip on her poor pillow and snarled in the direction of the open window...

the _open _window...

She was sure the window had started closed, when had it been opened? Or maybe she was just imagining things. Her mom probably was airing her room out so it didn't get stuffy.

Her eye decided to interrupt her mental explanation of things by landing on the last red-clad demon she wanted to see in the whole world. Or maybe the only one she wanted to see, she was having trouble deciding on that.

He stood from his crouched position in the corner, having gotten her attention, and not suffered her indignation or fury at his intrusion.

Kagome narrowed her gaze in his direction, and she was pleased to see him momentarily flinch before the familiar expression of haughty confidence took over his face. It was at this moment that Kagome realized what she really ought to have recognized many months before: It was a mask, born of the necessity of survival, with the name 'confidence'. He wasn't always as confident as he acted. This gave Kagome hope.

Maybe he has times where he's uncertain about things too...

His mouth opened and she listened for anything at the beginning of his voice that could possibly prove or disprove her theory.

"_O_i Wench!"

There it was!! His voice wavered once in the beginning of his exclamation, I heard it!

Her triumph leaked onto her face in the form of a smile, which confused the hell out of the poor dog-demon. She'd never smiled at his name-calling, and he hadn't expected her to start. Luckily for him, recognition of the name-calling hit her brain and her smile shifted into the scowl he was expecting.

Kagome snapped, "What, dog-boy?" slipping into one of the more entertaining, though uninventive, insults she'd heard Kouga spring onto Inuyasha. She meant it as a demeaning endearment, but she was also irritated. "I have a name, you know!" she added on as an afterthought.

"Right, whatever. You need to come back to the village now," he didn't provide the explanation she was expecting, but he wasn't tense or stressed out about an attack or a jewel-shard, either.

Kagome was confused. "Why is it something I _need_ to do?" she asked, putting emphasis on 'need'. As she saw it, she _needed_ a decent bath and a night on a real mattress.

Inuyasha was silent for a second, and Kagome saw the flicker of an emotion bubble up to the surface before being smothered by the appearance of irritation. "No reason," came his defensive retort.

She was suspicious, and thought he must be hiding something. If she indulged herself, she admitted that she wanted to spend time with him so it wasn't an entirely bad idea. Snarling to show her disapproval at his less-than-satisfactory answer, the young woman pointed to her backpack in a silent command.

If she looked hard enough and told herself she wasn't imagining things, she could be sure she'd seen the hint of a smile before his hair disappeared behind the veil of his hair. By the time he stood back up, his face was back to as emotionless as it could ever be, so she let it go and chalked it up to her imagination leading herself on.

Kagome walked down the stairs and found her mom in the living room with Souta playing a bit of 'Go'.

"Good bye mom, Souta! I'll be back in a little while," She announced as she entered the room.

Her mom's expression was of surprise and worry, "You haven't been home very long, are you sure it's alright to leave already?" Beneath her mother's words were the concern of a good friend. Her mom had been the one to receive her just earlier that day with frustrated tears streaming down Kagome's face.

She'd staved off the tears just long enough to not leave a scent trail in the feudal era, but as soon as her feet touched the ground in the well-house, the tears also began to fall towards the ground. Frustrated and hurt, Kagome had run home away from the insensitive hanou and his comments regarding Kouga and her lack of rejection towards the wolf.

She didn't understand demon ways. How could she? She hadn't grown up in their world, she was only an accidental (and now forced) member of their culture. Nobody had given her a crash course of demon-cultures yet, but already she was in trouble for not being forceful and clear, and had ended up playing 'hard to get' for a demon she wasn't interested in, and had gotten her 'more-than-a-crush' tangled up in her mess-of-a-relationship with Kouga.

Kagome wanted to groan in noncomittal resignation, but knew herself well enough to know she'd never allow herself such an easy way out.

Nodding confidently to her mother, who still didn't know why she'd come home with tears in her eyes, Kagome smiled, "Yep, I'll be alright! I'd offer to send you a letter, but I'm sure it wouldn't get to you, so I'll just see you later!"

Kagome and Inuyasha jumped down into the well, she in his arms and the bag on his back, relaxing when the blue light surrounded them gently and deposited them in the clean air of the past.

She took a great breath and smiled to herself, it was swiftly becoming a home for her, and if she let herself admit it: laying on her bed earlier, Kagome had experienced a flicker of homesickness for this era. It didn't bother her as much as it should have, but she wasn't about to tell anyone. Especially not Inuyasha who was difficult enough to convince to allow her extended visits home. If she let on that she missed this era as well, he might use that as a reason for her swift return. She was not about to give him any more ammunition against her returning home.

With a gentle smile, Kagome reasoned that it might be him expressing his dislike for her extended absences. Shippou did mention that Inuyasha was usually sulkier and always more irritable when she had been gone for a while. She giggled aloud, which got Inuyasha's immediate attention.

"What are you laughing about?" his tone was offended, but his words were sincere.

Not knowing which to trust more, and she wasn't in the easiest position to read his expression from, Kagome answered as evenly as she possibly could, "Just thinking about shippou." It wasn't entirely false, she reasoned, and it was guaranteed not to get him defensive. In order to prevent his probing curious question that was poised to slip from his tongue, she added innocently, "Do you think he's missed me?"

Inuyasha's snort was enough to convince her, he thought she was being silly, 'of course the brat missed her,' was what the sound meant. His words only backed her suspicion up, "That brat is always whining about how much he misses you."

Kagome had to give him props, he was complimenting her and insulting shippou in the same breath. It was a little sharper than she had expected of him, but she suspected that she'd been looking a little too shallow and not really giving Inuyasha the sort of intellectual consideration he deserved. She smiled contentedly in Inuyasha's grasp, having not prompted for her freedom when it had not been offered, and only protested in a token manner, "He's not a brat." Her protest wasn't exactly forceful, and it didn't have the sort of bite he was used to, and it gave him measurable pause.

"Kagome?" He ventured, worriedly.

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure you are alright? You haven't been yourself today..."

She was touched by his concern and was prompted to worry about him as well, it wasn't natural for him to show such gentle concern, AND he'd called her by her name. He only did that when he was really serious. So, she decided to respect his seriousness, and respond in kind, "Yes, Inuyasha. I'm fine, I'm just noticing things I've never noticed before."

He tensed, "What kind of things?"

"Nice things, unexpected, but nice all the same."

"..."

She could tell he was still confused, but she had no idea how to explain it to him without insulting him or going into great detail... neither of which were very high on her list of preferences. So she settled for the middle-ground, which would probably still leave him a little confused, "Things about you." She flushed pinkly, and was glad he couldn't look down to scan her face when he was running on the treetops.

His rhythm faltered for a moment, and he simply replied "... oh..." a few jumps later he added to the silence, "what sort of things?"

Kagome wasn't sure if it was curiosity or male pride that prompted the question, and she guessed that it was probably equally fueled on both sides. "Like you being considerate, kind, concerned, and gentle," came her honest reply, even if it sounded strange without her explanations.

His stifled guffaw still came out, even though it sounded a bit choked, swiftly followed by doubtful and concerned tones, "are you sure you didn't hit your head on something?"

She laughed again, "Yes I'm sure I didn't suffer a delusion-inducing head wound."

He proded, "No head wound at all, right?"

She wanted to giggle, he was being quite thorough in making sure she wasn't hurt, and decided to use it to prove that she wasn't having delusions. "No head wound," she affirmed, "But see, just now: that was you being concerned and gentle."

He snorted and kept silent the rest of the way to Kaede's (which wasn't far), but Kagome knew she'd won that tiny little battle. She was almost completely sure by now that he felt at least somewhat similarly to her as what she felt for him, but she couldn't be sure. She would make a point of bringing up demon-culture up at the fire tonight. There were several things she wanted to learn and then act upon.

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It's one of my lazier styles, but I think it flows a little smoother, especially for telling it from just one person's point of view. I will include things like Italics and Bold in the next chapter, to designate the difference between thoughts and regular narration, and emphasized words in both.

So, I hope you are ready for much fluff! This story is practically bleeding it. XD enjoy!

~YaslanaGirl


	2. Fireside Chat

I'm so glad this story was well received! I'm writing this during a -really- boring seminar on note-taking and studying. Augh, -boring-!! So, I'm gonna spice up my time spent here with another chapter in the realm of fluffiness. So, here's the fire-side talk Kagome was looking forward to...

I didn't mention it in the first chapter, but I DO NOT OWN Inuyasha.

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The fire crackled in front of them, warming their faces and wrapping their bodies in the warmth that radiated around the small hut. Kagome smiled, mirroring the warmth she felt taking over her whole body.

They'd just finished eating, and Kagome fidgeted, unsure of whether to begin asking questions, or to just keep to herself. She decided after a moment of Sango's lingering worried glance and Miroku's equally concerned expression that she would go ahead and voice her queries. If they went unanswered, fine by her, but Kagome felt it would be unwise to simply not ask.

Running her hand through Shippou's tail for the comforting presence his contentment offered, Kagome took a deep breath and fixed Miroku with a serious expression.

"Teach me about demon culture," her words were less of a request than her tone was, and the sudden conversation startled Inuyasha.

"What d'ya mean, wench?" came his reflexive -though surprised- retort.

Kagome leveled him with a pointed glare, "I mean that I don't want a repeat of today just because I don't understand the culture I've been thrown into the midst of." She trailed off, "It's too dangerous."

Her blue eyes watched the monk across the fire as he straightened, "Depending upon which species you are referring to, we may be less able to help you understand." His tone was gentle and modest as he admitted to the limits of their knowledge.

It was expected, but Kagome felt more at ease knowing they'd at least try to answer her questions.

Sango's voice bubbled up slyly, "I bet you wanna know about Dog demons first, don't you?" The taijia lifted an eyebrow and her gaze slipped from Kagome to rest momentarily on Inuyasha before swiftly returning to Kagome's flushing cheeks.

The young miko seriously hoped everyone would write off her flushing cheeks for the heat of the fire, instead of the warmth that burned beneath her skin at her friend's comment. Silently, Kagome nodded, unwilling to trust her sure-to-be-wavery-voice in that moment.

Inuyasha scoffed defensively, "I'm only half dog-demon, and I wasn't even raised in that environment. Why would you care about dog-demons?"

Kagome swore she heard hurt beneath his words, but she was completely puzzled by the presence of such an unintended emotion. She frowned, but before she could counter, the young kit in her lap bristled and shot off a retort.

"Yeah, but you still have the instincts that rule our kind, dummy," Shippou's half-snarled rebuttal of Inuyasha came as a surprise to Kagome and her breath caught in her throat.

Even after her meager training in the modern world, and the many stories of Jii-chan, Kagome hadn't considered that _instinct_ would be the main ruling element behind demonic 'culture'. She nibbled on her lip a little. How could she possibly expect anyone to explain instincts to her, they were inborn things that were too complicated to explain and teach. _'I've asked to much, it can't possibly be easy enough to explain.'_

Luckily for her, Miroku and Sango did not share her surprise, and instead seemed to be responding to her own surprise. _'Could it be possible that everyone else already knew it was instinct that guided demons to do what they did?'_ Kagome tried to write it off as her completely shielded life from all things demon, and her relatively recent thrust into their world. But the nagging feeling of somehow missing something very important and obvious stuck with her, and her pride suffered a bit for it.

In her moment of internal retreat, she'd missed a few exchanged phrases between Shippou and Inuyasha, but when she caught one of Inuyasha's replies, she decided that she really regretted missing the conversation.

"How could that possibly still apply to a _half-demon_?" Inuyasha's biting tone did nothing to hide the thorns Kagome saw in his eyes which wrenched her heart right along with his, and raised her ire.

She rose to her knees, scooted over to him and slapped his cheek.

The sound resounded in the hut and his wide golden eyes were almost worth the result she'd been after: his silence.

"I don't care what anyone just said," mostly because she hadn't heard it, "but I _certainly_ don't want to hear that from you again!" Her blazing blue glaze was pinned on him in an obvious effort to subdue him without the use of the prayer beads around his neck, and his surprise kept him in the state of silence she'd acquired.

Kagome went on and explained her reasoning, "I want to know, because I want to understand the world I'm in. I don't want to spend my time worrying about whether I'm going to insult or compliment or do anything wrong to piss the wrong demon off!" She took a steadying breath. She hadn't quite been yelling, but she desperately wanted to. Resisting the desire, she continued, "What happened today with Kouga was an accident. It was my fault, and I didn't even know I was making the problem worse! I want to avoid that kind of thing again if I ever possibly can."

Inuyasha sobered at this, and she saw something fall before another emotion dropped in front of it: determination. "Alright, fine: I'll teach you what I know. It won't be easy, and it won't be quick, but if you really don't want to do that sort of thing again, I'll teach you so you can avoid sending the wrong sorts of messages," Inuyasha intoned in a defeated manner.

She frowned slightly before realizing he would be teaching her about demon instincts. She couldn't be happier, and in her glee she launched herself into him from her kneeling position. She'd surprised him again and the two of them fell to the floor in a messy tangle.

Her head was resting on his chest, with her arms pinned beneath his back, from when she'd hugged him mid-glomp, and she could just barely see their hair mixing on the floor above his shoulder.

Miroku's snicker bubbled up and was met with Inuyasha's snarl of warning.

When Kagome didn't feel her being moved off of him, she began to worry, when she realized she'd pinned his arms to his side. Her own giggles rose and fell mercilessly, and she soon felt her side beginning to ache from laughing so hard.

The pain in her side sobered her laughter, and she lifted her gaze to meet what she expected to be grumpy twin golden lances. Inuyasha, however, hadn't gotten the memo that he needed to be paying attention, because he'd closed his eyes momentarily, expecting them all to be laughing too hard to pay attention to his lack of snarls. Kagome caught the contented expression on his face, and it shocked her into tensing, which caught his direct attention, snapping his eyes open.

What followed, Kagome was sure she would not forget for a while. A waterfall of emotions spilled over her awareness, beginning with shock, bleeding to recognition, contentment, a slight twinge of fear that fizzled into anticipation which rippled in tension all down his body, then flooding with a guarded expression that covered said anticipation, before flickering into irritation. His expression didn't change after the irritation, but Kagome couldn't convince herself that it was completely accurate irritation, or that it was completely focused on her.

She was dizzy with the expressiveness of his gaze, and was too comfy to convince her mind that moving was a good or bad idea. So she remained nestled in her fog of convenient comfort.

His gruff voice sounded like someone had sweetened it with honey, because when he spoke, it was devoid of all his customary irritation. It caught them all by surprise, but what had Kagome really brightened was his words, "Alright Kagome, I'll teach you and tell you about dog-demon instincts. It might take a while, though, so don't expect everything at once!"

He ended on a gruff and defensive note, and Kagome had to let loose a tiny giggle at the reappearance of the Inuyasha she had come to anticipate. Nodding, she conceeded, "That sounds good, Inuyasha. Thank you," the young Miko added for good measure.

"Do you think you could get off my chest now?" rumbled through his chest into her ear.

Suppressing another chuckle, she bravely shook her head.

"Well, why the hell not?"

Kagome physically restrained herself from tensing by taking very large calming breaths before answering, "You are laying on my arms, I can't really move."

".... crap."

Kagome's mind echoed sardonically, _'My thoughts exactly.'_

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Wow, it took longer than I thought to write this chapter. I started it during a seminar before work, and had to finish it up after work right before bed. I wanted to hammer out a chapter for a new story (I'm crazy like that) but I decided I needed to print the rest of this chapter like I promised myself I would. I'll debate with myself further on which story gets documented first. It'll probably be a toss-up, but I really want to finish -something- X_X So, expect an update soon for NEQ, DEB, or BnoT. I'm itching for a good YYH ficcie, but I don't have a non-AU and non-xover YYH fic. Maybe I'll rectify that...

One of those four will probably have the next update fairly soon.


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